The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys, 512 pgs.
Philomel Books, 2019. $19.
Language:
G (no swears); Mature Content: PG (alcohol consumption); Violence: PG-13 (a
fight and fatal shooting).
BUYING
ADVISORY: HS – OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE
APPEAL – LOW
1950s
Spain under the control of Francisco Franco is a new experience for Daniel who
has just arrived from Texas with his parents. A recent high school graduate, he
is eager to take advantage of his father’s business trip to learn about the
country of his mother’s birth and build his photography portfolio for his
chosen future career as a photojournalist. As he travels around Madrid, he will
meet a motley collection of people who are experiencing Spain in vastly
different ways. Love, lies, and fascist control will lead to their lives intersecting
with consequences that will span the decades.
After
publishing several intriguing and notable historical novels, the latest from
Ruta Sepetys is a disappointment. Franco’s Spain in the 1950s is not a time well
understood by young adults, and the author does little to give the necessary
background to sufficiently explain what non-historians need to know in order to
create interest in the story. The book is overstuffed with too many characters
resulting in none of them being properly developed. Along with the glut of
characters, there are so many plot threads that overlap, pull apart, and then are
left hanging that the reader will have insufficient material to engage with. The
reader will be left frustrated with resolutions to the myriad of plots reliant
on ridiculous coincidence and maudlin expressions of emotion. That said, a
teenage romance and bit of intrigue could possibly be enough to engage some
young readers.
Reviewer:
AEB
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